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Ohio
Department of Transportation officials added another year’s delay today to 18 major highway
projects that already were slated for delays of five to 17 years.

The
extra delays — “really just corrections” to a list released on Jan. 17, according to state
officials — would affect all future phases of I-70/71 reconstruction and projects planned to
untangle I-270 traffic between Rts. 315 and 23.

The
new calendar would extend the average delay for central Ohio projects from 14 years to 15
years.

ODOT
Director Jerry Wray said the delays reflect a more-realistic picture of what the state can afford,
although he said he’ll push for cost savings elsewhere to speed up construction.

Among
ideas he raised today with the Transportation Review Advisory Council, a nine-member panel that
helps guide the state’s construction plans, was seeking federal permission to sell rest stops along
some Ohio highways.

The
advisory panel took its first vote on the construction delays today, although its action was merely
to accept the list as a draft. A final vote will come in April or May, after a 45-day
public-comment period that begins on Wednesday.

Antoinette
Selvey-Maddox, a panel member from Cincinnati, suggested that ODOT review its list of major
projects and rank them in order of importance. Wray has noted repeatedly that the 39 projects
facing delays are listed only in the order they were declared ready to go by planners. He said
today that all are priorities for the state.

Eighteen
of the 39 projects could face additional delays if ODOT’s advisory panel approves the plan.

I-70/71
phases that were to begin in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and faced delays to 2025, 2028, 2032 and 2033,
now would be pushed back to 2026, 2029, 2033 and 2034.

The
I-270 work, which was to begin in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and faced delays to 2019, 2027, 2030 and
2032, now would be pushed back to 2020, 2028, 2031 and 2033.

Elsewhere,
demolition of Cleveland’s eastbound Innerbelt bridge that carries I-90 traffic through the city
would be pushed back another year, from 2018 to 2019. It was scheduled originally for 2014.

One
phase of I-75 work in Cincinnati would be pushed back from 2029 to 2030. It originally was
scheduled to start in 2015.